1. Advent Vespers Service
December 7, 2014
6:30 p.m
My heart shall sing of the day you bring
Let the fires of your justice burn.
Wipe away all tears for the dawn draws near
and the world is about to turn.
2. Advent exemplifies the turning of the world. The turning of the
seasons. The turning of life. The giving way of old to new–and
learning that there are blessings to living in that tension.
Advent aims to highlight how God is present in the world in scenes
of reversal. Scenes in which hopelessness or brokenness or oppression
or hate have been reversed or replaced with scenes of wholeness,
grace, and love.
Advent is about one more thing, too. It is about allowing ourselves
to be claimed by faith and nurtured in hope as we wait for the
appearance and experiences of wholeness, grace, and love we crave
in our own lives.
Advent is not merely a season of waiting for the birth of baby
Jesus. It is a season in which we observe and give thanks for the
ways that the kingdom of God shows up in our world and our lives
already. The kingdom of God is not religion. It is real, visible, incar-
nate, wholeness, love and hope.
Our evening prayer tonight is organized into four parts that follow
the stanzas from the hymn, Canticle of the Turning. Each section
is comprised of a hymn stanza, scripture reading that exemplifies
the stanza imagery, a contemporary reflection, and a prayer.
3. Please stand as indicated by the asterisk (*). Congregation responses are in bold.
*CONGREGATION SONG O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, vss. 1-4, 6, 8
VOCAL CHOIR ANTHEM A Time for Advent
4. *ADVENT PRAYER OF PRAISE
Praise to the God in creativity;
Praise to the God of the potter’s wheel,
to the God of inspiration,
the God of breathing-into;
Who set the stars in motion and breathed song
Who molded clay into form and breathed spirit
Who ignites fire in the heart and breathes newness
Who infuses the entire creation and breathes I AM
See, hear, touch, smell, taste
Behold...
I AM.
Amen.
6. God of the ones who wait, as we live amid the ups and downs of our lives it can be especially
difficult to remember that you are at work among us to bring us renewal, wholeness, love, and
grace. Help us to be patient as we wait for renewal in you and help us to see how we can partici-
pate in renewal in others’ lives. Amen.
PRAYER
FIRST READING Genesis 18: 1-14
REFLECTION Everyday Miracles” The Liturgists
The LORD appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in
the heat of the day. 2He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he
ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. 3He said, “My lord, if I
find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. 4Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet,
and rest yourselves under the tree. 5Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and
after that you may pass on — since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have
said.” 6And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah, and said, “Make ready quickly three mea-
sures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.” 7Abraham ran to the herd, and took a calf, tender
and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it. 8Then he took curds and milk and
the calf that he had prepared, and set it before them; and he stood by them under the tree while
they ate.
9They said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There, in the tent.” 10Then
one said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.” And
Sarah was listening at the tent entrance behind him. 11Now Abraham and Sarah were old, ad-
vanced in age; it had ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women. 12So Sarah laughed to
herself, saying, “After I have grown old, and my husband is old, shall I have pleasure?” 13The LORD
said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh, and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’
14Is anything too wonderful for the LORD? At the set time I will return to you, in due season, and
Sarah shall have a son.”
8. God of the small, support us in the times we feel powerless and give us confidence, trusting in
your promise of your cross that there is nothing you will not enter into with us. Give us the
courage to stand–even when it is unpopular–with others who feel small or powerless or are
cowed by oppression and injustice. Amen.
PRAYER
SECOND READING Luke 1: 39-55
39In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40where she
entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting,
the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42and exclaimed with
a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43And why has
this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44For as soon as I heard the sound
of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45And blessed is she who believed that there
would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.”
46And Mary said,
“My soul magnifies the Lord,
47and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,
48for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;
49for the Mighty One has done great things for me,
and holy is his name.
50His mercy is for those who fear him
from generation to generation.
51He has shown strength with his arm;
he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.
52He has brought down the powerful from their thrones,
and lifted up the lowly;
53he has filled the hungry with good things,
and sent the rich away empty.
54He has helped his servant Israel,
in remembrance of his mercy,
55according to the promise he made to our ancestors,
to Abraham and to his descendants forever.”
REFLECTION Everyday Miracles” The Liturgists
10. PRAYER
REFLECTION Everyday Miracles” The Liturgists
THIRD READING Mark 1: 21-27
21They went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught.
22They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the
scribes. 23Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, 24and he cried out,
“What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you
are, the Holy One of God.” 25But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!”
26And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. 27They
were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, “What is this? A new teaching — with
authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.”
God of renewal, grant us awareness that there is no structure or institution you will not topple
in order that it more wonderfully reflects your kingdom. Give us the courage to repent of the
things that we do or say that do not convey your love and grace. Give us the courage to repent
of the times when our inaction or silence signal our acquiescence to the powers that do not
demonstrate your culture. Amen.
12. FOURTH READING Isaiah 11: 1-9
A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
2The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
3His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear;
4but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
5Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
6The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.
7The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
8The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
9They will not hurt or destroy
on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.
God who holds us fast, give us recognition of the ways in which you accompany us through
all aspects of life–even through those who wait, through the small, and through those whose
intentions are misguided. Amen.
REFLECTION Everyday Miracles The Liturgists
PRAYER
13. *SENDING PRAYER
The seasons can teach us:
the burnished leaves
the ripening grain
the dying green–
The seasons can teach us:
the winter sleep
the dark rest underground
the cool time of waiting–
The seasons can teach us:
the split soil
the emerging shoot
the bright awakening.
The seasons can teach us:
new things will come
lo! new things will come
but death is part of the process
leaving behind is part of the newness
cool darkness and waiting
prepare the spring–
The seasons can teach us:
new things will come
ah, new things will come.
Behold, I make all things new,
says the Lord.
Amen.
14. Please greet those around you with a sign of peace.
You are invited to stay for refreshments, fellowship
and to help decorate the sanctuary trees.
*SENDING SONG Joyous Light of Heavenly Glory
